Julianne Hough Talks Married Life, Keeping Healthy in Health Magazine

Dancer/Actress Julianne Hough is featured on the newest issue of Health Magazine, where she dishes on married life, how she stays healthy, and about her endometriosis.

Julianne took to her Instagram to write about her new cover, saying: “Thank you @healthmagazine making me this months cover girl! I had an absolute blast. I also can’t thank you enough for talking openly about endometriosis so that we can all get in the know about #MeInEndo !
Check out the magazine that hits stands this week to see the rest of the photoshoot and read my own story about #endometriosis xoxo Jules #healthmagazine #mpgsport #mpgbyjules”

Check out some of Julianne’s interview below!

On Married Life:

“I feel so much more sexy,” she says. “It’s so awesome. I love being married so much.”

“I’ve always wanted to be married and be a mom and have kids, but to be honest, all of that scared the s— out of me. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, to actually be married and committed to somebody, that just seems so grown-up.’ But the first thing that I felt when we got married was, ‘This is the complete opposite of scary. This is like home.'”

On Working with a Trainer:

“I do, but I change it up. It’s not one specific trainer who does everything. I work with a trainer at Body by Simone or one at Tracy Anderson, or I’ll do SoulCycle or CorePower Yoga with different trainers. I’m a dancer, so I remember different combinations, so I’ll sometimes take what I’ve learned in classes and make my own workout.”

On her least favourite workout move:

“Oh my goodness. You know those sliding round disks where you put one foot there and you do your inner thighs, or you’re crossing behind? Anything to do with inner or outer thighs—that’s my struggle point, so I’m always trying to work on that part of my body. I love doing abs and I love doing arms, so legs are always the hardest for me. But they’re the most rewarding.”

On how she stays healthy:

“Me time. If I don’t have my space for an hour, I feel overwhelmed and I need to just chill. That can be having a cup of tea by myself outside, going and getting gas—it doesn’t matter; I just need some time every day where I can think and put myself in a good place. I always try to wake up and think about three things that I’m grateful for: something that has happened already, something I’m currently grateful for, and something that I’m wanting that I can achieve that day.”

On her morning routine:

“I always wake up and we make fresh juices. It’s mainly kale, cucumber, spinach, sometimes beets, celery, lemon, ginger. For sweetness we’ll do apple or carrots. I have half a protein shake before I work out because I need a little bit of energy, but I’m one of those people who can’t have a full breakfast. Brooks can have, like, a tub of oatmeal, and I’m like, ‘I would throw up.’ When I finish the workout, I finish the protein shake. Then I come home and have a bowl of oatmeal and berries or something like that.”

On if she has bad days:

“Oh my gosh, totally. And that’s the thing—I do try to stay as positive as possible, and people always comment on that, but I also work at it. It’s not that I’m, like, Miss Positive perfect girl, wake up and everything’s sunshine and rainbows.

“No, I have my days for sure. The other day, I was having a major endometriosis “episode” is what I call them, and I was just quiet. We went to the beach, and it was fine, but I wasn’t active. I didn’t want to play Spikeball and I didn’t want to play Frisbee, and later, Brooks was like, “Hey, are you OK?” I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m just not feeling very good.’ He was like, ‘Oh, I just thought you were in a bad mood. You need to tell me that because I don’t know.’ So, trust me, I have my days. Sometimes I don’t want to work out, and so sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I’m just like, ‘I deserve a day off—I’m fine.’ But sometimes I’m like, ‘No, come on, I know I’m gonna feel better afterward.’ The end result is always the best. There’s never been a time I’ve finished a workout and been like, ‘I totally regret doing that.'”

On when she realized she has endometriosis:

“I thought I was just like every other girl—getting her period and having cramps. I’d see my mom and my sisters all have bad cramps, but being a dancer, I was like, ‘I’m fine. I’m a tough cookie.’ I remember moving to L.A. when I was 18, and my roommate had endo, and I was like, ‘Well, that sounds too medical, and I have no idea what that means. It’s over my head.’ But then I saw her and was like, ‘That looks like the kind of pain that I have.’ Again, I didn’t care because I was 18. Then I was on Dancing, during one of my last seasons as a dancer, and all of a sudden while I was dancing, something happened and I just doubled over. They cut to commercial, and my mom was in the audience that day, so she’s like, ‘You’re going to the hospital. I don’t care what you say.’ It took so long to figure out what was going on. Finally one doctor said, “I think you might have endometriosis, and it looks pretty bad.’ I needed surgery—I had it everywhere, to the point that they took my appendix out because it was so bad.”

On what helps her pain:

“A hot bath. I have a hot water bottle that I call the boiling baby, and I sleep with it and put it next to me. Also, stretching and almost breaking a little bit of a sweat. You don’t have to, like, go for a run, but just getting my heart rate up helps with the blood flow.”

You can read more from Julianne’s feature in the November 2017 issue of Health, or here.